Virginia Giuffre, who accused Britain’s Prince Andrew in Epstein intercourse trafficking scandal, has died – Boston Information, Climate, Sports activities

Virginia Giuffre, who accused Britain’s Prince Andrew and different influential males of sexually exploiting her as an adolescent trafficked by financier Jeffrey Epstein, has died. She was 41.

Giuffre died by suicide Friday at her farm in Western Australia, her publicist confirmed.

“Virginia was a fierce warrior within the struggle in opposition to sexual abuse and intercourse trafficking. She was the sunshine that lifted so many survivors,” her household mentioned in a press release. “Regardless of all of the adversity she confronted in her life, she shone so shiny. She will likely be missed past measure.”

Her publicist Dini von Mueffling described Giuffre as “deeply loving, smart and humorous.”

“She adored her youngsters and plenty of animals. She was all the time extra involved with me than with herself,” von Mueffling wrote in a press release. “I’ll miss her past phrases. It was the privilege of a lifetime to symbolize her.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story consists of dialogue of suicide. For those who or somebody you realize wants assist, the nationwide suicide and disaster lifeline in Australia is obtainable by calling 13 11 14. Within the U.S., it’s obtainable by calling or texting 988. There’s additionally an internet chat at 988lifeline.org

The American-born Giuffre, who lived in Australia for years, grew to become an advocate for intercourse trafficking survivors after rising as a central determine in Epstein’s extended downfall.

The rich, well-connected New York cash supervisor killed himself in August 2019 whereas awaiting trial on U.S. federal intercourse trafficking prices involving dozens of teenage women and younger girls, some as younger as 14. The fees got here 14 years after police in Palm Seaside, Florida, first started investigating allegations that he sexually abused underage women who had been employed to offer him massages.

Giuffre got here ahead publicly after the preliminary investigation resulted in an 18-month Florida jail time period for Epstein, who made a secret deal to keep away from federal prosecution by pleading responsible as a substitute to comparatively minor state-level prices of soliciting prostitution. He was launched in 2009.

In subsequent lawsuits, Giuffre mentioned she was a teenage spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago — President Donald Trump’s Palm Seaside membership — when she was approached in 2000 by Epstein’s girlfriend and later worker, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Giuffre mentioned Maxwell employed her as a masseuse for Epstein, however the couple successfully made her a sexual servant, pressuring her into gratifying not solely Epstein however his pals and associates. Giuffre she was flown around the globe for assignations with males together with Prince Andrew whereas she was 17 and 18.

The boys denied it and assailed Giuffre’s credibility. She acknowledged altering some key particulars of her account, together with the age at which she first met Epstein.

However many components of her story had been supported by paperwork, witness testimony and photographs — together with certainly one of her and Andrew, along with his his arm round her naked midriff, in Maxwell’s London townhouse.

Giuffre mentioned in certainly one of her lawsuits that she had intercourse with the royal 3 times: in London throughout her 2001 journey, at Epstein’s New York mansion when she was 17 and within the Virgin Islands when she was 18.

“Ghislaine mentioned, ‘I would like you to do for him what you do for Epstein,’” Giuffre advised NBC Information’ “Dateline” in September 2019.

Andrew categorically rejected Giuffre’s allegations and mentioned he didn’t recall having met her.

His denials blew up in his face throughout a November 2019 BBC interview. Viewers noticed a prince who proffered curious rebuttals — comparable to disputing Giuffre’s recollection of sweaty dancing by saying he was medically incapable of perspiring — and confirmed no empathy for the ladies who mentioned Epstein abused them.

Inside days of the interview, Andrew stepped down from his royal duties. He settled with Giuffre in 2022 for an undisclosed sum, agreeing to make a “substantial donation” to her survivors’ group. An announcement filed in court docket mentioned that the prince acknowledged Epstein was a intercourse trafficker and Giuffre “a longtime sufferer of abuse.”

She additionally filed, and in not less than some instances settled, lawsuits in opposition to Epstein and others linked to him. In a single case, she dropped her claims in opposition to a distinguished U.S. legal professional, saying she might need erred in figuring out him as one of many males to whom Epstein provided her.

Epstein’s suicide put an finish to his accusers’ hopes of holding him criminally accountable.

Maxwell was convicted in 2021 on federal intercourse trafficking and conspiracy prices and was sentenced to twenty years in jail. She mentioned mentioned she wasn’t accountable for Epstein’s abuse.

Prosecutors elected to not embody Giuffre’s allegations within the Maxwell case, however Giuffre later advised the court docket that the British socialite had “opened the door to hell.”

Giuffre, born Virginia Roberts, advised interviewers that her childhood was shattered when she was sexually abused as a grade-schooler by a person her household knew. She later ran away from residence and endured extra abuse, she mentioned.

She mentioned she met her now-husband in 2002 whereas taking therapeutic massage coaching in Thailand at Epstein’s behest. She married, moved to Australia and had a household.

Giuffre based an advocacy charity, SOAR, in 2015.

Giuffre was hospitalized after a critical accident, her publicist mentioned final month. She didn’t reply questions in regards to the date, location, nature or different specifics of the accident and in regards to the accuracy of an Instagram submit that appeared to return from Giuffre. The submit mentioned she had been in a automobile that was hit by a faculty bus and her prognosis was dire.

She is survived by her three youngsters, whom the assertion described because the “mild of her life.”

Sigrid McCawley, an legal professional for Giuffre, mentioned in a press release, “Her braveness pushed me to struggle more durable, and her energy was awe-inspiring. The world has misplaced a tremendous human being at present. Relaxation in peace, my candy angel.”

The AP doesn’t establish individuals who say they had been victims of sexual assault except they’ve come ahead publicly.

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